Using ever-more powerful telescopes over the next year, Galileo observed that the Moon was not perfectly smooth, as claimed by Aristotle, but cratered and mountainous.

He spotted hundreds of stars previously untouched by human eyes.

More critically, he discovered the four inner satellites of Jupiter - still known as the "Galilean moons" in his honour - and learnt that Venus, Earth's closest planet, goes through a full range of phases.

Put together, his observations validated the revolutionary theory of Nicolaus Copernicus that Earth orbits the Sun, and not the other way round.

Galileo understood the implications of what he had seen, but the Catholic Church was not ready to accept such heresy.
Only in 2000 did the Holy See apologise for putting Galileo on trial in 1633, forcing him to recant his ideas lest he face imprisonment or worse. The Vatican also pays tribute to him in an exhibition that opened this month.
I never knew that it was only in 20

Where the telescope ends, the microscipe begins. Which of the two has the grander view?

I agree it is a difficult decision